Wednesday Bible Study: Huh?

The first part of Acts 6 is about some poorly explained ethnic squabble. It's of no direct importance to us today, but just so you don't wonder too much at this point the ministry is evidently limited to the Jews in Jerusalem. As we have seen, the Christian community pools its resources to provide for the needy, but we don't really get a clear explanation of how this is organized or led. Evidently the program discriminated against Greek speaking Jews. (The so-called "Hebraic" Jews actually spoke Aramaic. Hebrew was already a dead language except for religious liturgy.) It seems the Twelve apostles weren't really on top of the food program, but they didn't want to take time away from preaching in order to manage it, so they appointed a committee. 

 

All of this seems fairly inconsequential, but as far as I can tell the real point of this story is to introduce Stephen, who as we will see in the next chapter becomes the first Christian martyr. The theme of martyrdom will become very important as Christianity developed in later years, and this is it's seed. We'll see it play out next time.

 

6 In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews^[a] among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. ² So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. ³ Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them ⁴ and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”

⁵ This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. ⁶ They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.

⁷ So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.

Stephen Seized

⁸ Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people. ⁹ Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia—who began to argue with Stephen. ¹⁰ But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.

¹¹ Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.”

¹² So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. ¹³ They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. ¹⁴ For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”

¹⁵ All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

Footnotes

1. Acts 6:1 That is, Jews who had adopted the Greek language and culture

 

Ebola virus: Big deal, little deal, or no deal?

I recently devoted a post to mocking the media storm around hantavirus. As I assured y'all, it is fading away without further consequence. That does not mean, however, that we should not continue to have major concern about the possibility of a truly horrific global pandemic. In fact, the probability continually increases as the human population continues to grow, become more concentrated in dense cities, become more highly mobile, and press into formerly remote areas. All of this is compounded by climate change, because warmer climates are more conducive to infectious disease (the tropics have always been the most disease-ridden parts of the planet) and the range of important disease vectors expands northward.

 

So is Ebola virus the next big thing? No, not really. The current outbreak in west Africa is really bad news for the affected communities, but Ebola is readily containable wherever there are adequate medical and public health resources. The reason is that it can only be transmitted by direct contact with bodily fluids, and only while the person is symptomatic. (There is an exception I'll get to, but it isn't a major concern.) To be sure, people who are symptomatic produce a lot of bodily fluids. Ebola is classified as a hemorrhagic fever,  because it makes people bleed from their various orifices. So medical personnel trying to help victims need to be fully protected from contact.

 

However, it is not spread through the air, unlike say, measles or Covid 19. The really bad news about Covid is that asymptomatic people can be infectious, which means there are people walking around who don't know they are infected who are transmitting it to other. HIV also can only be transmitted by direct contact with bodily fluids, and even then not easily, usually only by sexual intercourse or sharing needles. But the problem is that people can be asymptomatic for years, and so have plenty of time to infect other people, and even if they do become symptomatic they don't necessarily know that what they have is HIV unless they are in contact with medical doctors, and even then they might be irresponsible. That can't happen with Ebola. (Believe me, a person with symptomatic Ebola disease is not going to have sex.)

 

Now, to get to the exception. It does appear that those relatively few people who recover from acute Ebola infection can transmit the virus sexually for a period after they recover. That doesn't mean months or years, as with HIV, and it also can't create a chain of infection as with HIV because if someone does become infected, they'll become acutely ill and probably dead before they have a chance to infect someone else. The point of all this being:

 

To produce a severe, widespread infectious disease epidemic or pandemic, a pathogen needs either to be:

 

1) Readily transmissible through the air, especially by people who are asymptomatic or have only mild symptoms that don't leave them knocked out on the sofa or in bed; or

2) Transmissible by animal vectors such as mosquitoes or fleas that bite infected people whether or not they are symptomatic and whether or not they are up and about, and pass it on to others.

 

The latter condition applied to the Back Death, but since we understand that now and can more effectively control rats and fleas, it's not a big concern. It also applies to malaria which continues at endemic levels in parts of the world where the vector mosquitoes can live, an area that is expanding with climate change. I don't want to downplay malaria, it's a drag, and it has evolved multi-drug resistance which makes it even harder to deal with. On the other hand, there is a somewhat effective vaccine now, we do have ways of protecting people from mosquitoes, and effective biological controls are on the horizon. So that's not a huge worry, although we need to continue to invest resources in malaria control.

 

Influenza is in category 1, and it's a complicated story. It is continually evolving in birds and swine, and so new strains emerge each year to which segments of the population may have more or less immunity depending on whether they have been infected with, or vaccinated against, closely related strains in the past. Vaccine manufacturers are constantly racing against viral evolution and trying to match this year's shot with what they expect will be going around, with varying success from year to year. Flu strains also vary greatly in virulence, i.e. how sick they make people. Scientists are working on a universal flu vaccine, using methods that the Dump administration refuses to fund, but hopefully the Europeans will come through for us. So we might have a bad flu season but 1918 almost certainly won't happen again.

 

So, Ebola virus is a big deal where it's happening now but little to no deal where it isn't, certainly nothing to be majorly worried about in the U.S. of A. Recently coronaviruses have proven to be a major concern. Like influenza, they are constantly evolving in various animals -- bats are the best known reservoir but they aren't the only one. And what we get aren't just novel strains of a virus to which we at least have some immunity, like flu, but whole new categories of virus to which human immune systems are naive. The virulence of Covid-19 happened to increase quite sharply with age, but the next one might be just as dangerous to children and young adults, or even more so, as was the case with the 1918 influenza.*

So, it is very important that we get rid of the lunatic in charge of HHS, and all of the fellow lunatics he has appointed to key positions in public health and biomedical research.  

 

*The 1918 flu tended to kill people by overactivation of the immune system, resulting in a so-called cytokine storm, runaway inflammation that caused multiple organ failure. Older people whose immune systems were less active were less vulnerable.

 

  

Wednesday Bible Study: Hippie Commie Freaks

In chapter four, Peter and John exploit the cred they got from healing the beggar to get over on the priests. I'm afraid I don't remember all the details, but in my youth there was a National Lampoon True Fact that is relevant. A passerby made an insulting remark to a beggar who had a regular place, maybe outside a train station, in a Latin American country, whereupon the beggar sprang to his feet and started beating the man with his crutch. They were quickly surrounded by a crowd shouting, "¡Un milagro, un milagro!"

 

That's only relevant if there is any basis for this story at all. But what I find most interesting regarding contemporary Christianity is the conclusion of this chapter. 

³² All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. ³³ With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all ³⁴ that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales ³⁵ and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.

³⁶ Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”), ³⁷ sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.

 

Hmm. Does that sound anything like Christian belief or practice as we know it, or have known it throughout the millennia?  For example, Kenneth Copeland, "pastor" of Eagle Mountain International Church, has an estimated net worth of $300 million. He is notorious for owning a fleet of private jets, among other indulgences. He is an ardent supporter of Donald J. Trump. 

 

Before the 2016 election, Copeland said that Christians who did not vote for Trump would be guilty of murder, referring to the pro-choice stance of Hillary Clinton.^[74] After a state dinner at the White House that Copeland attended, he stated in an interview that Trump was "led by the Spirit of God", and that his most important legacy as president would be the appointments of conservative judges.^[75] 

 

 But, obviously, if he has ever read the Bible, he has forgotten all about it.

 

4 The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. ² They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people, proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. ³ They seized Peter and John and, because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. ⁴ But many who heard the message believed; so the number of men who believed grew to about five thousand.

⁵ The next day the rulers, the elders and the teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. ⁶ Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and others of the high priest’s family. ⁷ They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: “By what power or what name did you do this?”

⁸ Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! ⁹ If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, ¹⁰ then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. ¹¹ Jesus is

“‘the stone you builders rejected,
    which has become the cornerstone.’^[a]

¹² Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

¹³ When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. ¹⁴ But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say. ¹⁵ So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together. ¹⁶ “What are we going to do with these men?” they asked. “Everyone living in Jerusalem knows they have performed a notable sign, and we cannot deny it. ¹⁷ But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn them to speak no longer to anyone in this name.”

¹⁸ Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. ¹⁹ But Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! ²⁰ As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

²¹ After further threats they let them go. They could not decide how to punish them, because all the people were praising God for what had happened. ²² For the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old.

The Believers Pray

²³ On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. ²⁴ When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. ²⁵ You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David:

“‘Why do the nations rage
    and the peoples plot in vain?
²⁶ The kings of the earth rise up
    and the rulers band together
against the Lord
    and against his anointed one.^[b]’^[c]

²⁷ Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. ²⁸ They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. ²⁹ Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. ³⁰ Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

³¹ After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

The Believers Share Their Possessions

³² All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. ³³ With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all ³⁴ that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales ³⁵ and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.

³⁶ Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”), ³⁷ sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.

Footnotes

1. Acts 4:11 Psalm 118:22
2. Acts 4:26 That is, Messiah or Christ
3. Acts 4:26 Psalm 2:1,2

 

 

Hantasteria

I've always found the priorities and obsessions of the corporate media to be bizarre, but this past week they've really outdone themselves. Every major news network's web site has featured prominently, every day, a section with multiple stories on the attack on the White House Correspondent's Dinner. The guy was a lone actor, who didn't even make it to the same floor as the event, and there was essentially no new news about it of any kind after the next day. This was an incident of no importance, but it had to do with them, so they wanted the rest of us to be obsessed with it as well. Give it a rest, please.

Now we're seeing six stories every day about the hantavirus, which I assure you is a total nothingburger. There are disease outbreaks on cruise ships all the time. You have a lot of people in close quarters, usually most of them pretty old so their immune systems are declining, and obviously any virus that makes it onto the ship is likely to spread. Norovirus is a very common problem, for example. Hantavirus is very unlikely to be transmitted from human to human, about the only places it's going to happen are a cruise ship and maybe a prison, where people are cooped up in close quarters for a long time. This is not a problem for anybody except the few people who became infected.  There is no possibility, zero, zip, zilch, nada that it is going to become any sort of an epidemic. 

 

Meanwhile, there actually are some important developments in the world that they probably ought to be telling us about. 

Sunday Sermonette: It doesn't seem to work any more

The gospels have Jesus performing numerous miraculous healings. Now in Acts 3 it turns out that Peter has inherited the power. There is no indication as to why some very few people are lucky enough to get miraculously healed while the vast majority remain shit out of luck, no matter how hard they pray or how fervently they believe. Even so, the magic power seems to have vanished. Peter's successor Leo doesn't even pretend to have it, although the Catholic church occasionally certifies a miracle as a condition for promoting someone to sainthood. Even if you don't think that's complete bullshit, again, why does a saint in his or her lifetime manage to miraculously heal one person and all the rest can go pound sand?

 

Anyway this particular miracle by Peter is basic to the story, as we'll see in the next chapter. Meanwhile, regarding verse 24, "²⁴ “Indeed, beginning with Samuel, all the prophets who have spoken have foretold these days," nobody knows what the hell he is talking about. It just isn't true. Then he goes on in verse 25 to single out the Jews as the chosen people, which obviously directly contradicts the supposed universality of Christianity. But it's convenient because at the moment he's talking to Jews, at the Temple. 

 

3 One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon. ² Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. ³ When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. ⁴ Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” ⁵ So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.

⁶ Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” ⁷ Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. ⁸ He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. ⁹ When all the people saw him walking and praising God, ¹⁰ they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

Peter Speaks to the Onlookers

¹¹ While the man held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon’s Colonnade. ¹² When Peter saw this, he said to them: “Fellow Israelites, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? ¹³ The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. ¹⁴ You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. ¹⁵ You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. ¹⁶ By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see.

¹⁷ “Now, fellow Israelites, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. ¹⁸ But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Messiah would suffer. ¹⁹ Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, ²⁰ and that he may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus. ²¹ Heaven must receive him until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. ²² For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. ²³ Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from their people.’^[a]

²⁴ “Indeed, beginning with Samuel, all the prophets who have spoken have foretold these days. ²⁵ And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.’^{[b] 26} When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.”

Footnotes

1. Acts 3:23 Deut. 18:15,18,19
2. Acts 3:25 Gen. 22:18; 26:4

 

Explaining the Canvas Hack

If you regularly scan the news you already know that schools throughout the country -- colleges and universities, high schools, community colleges -- have been disrupted by hackers who attacked an application called Canvas. There is a lot the news stories don't explain, so let me do the reporters' job for them.

 

My university sent two emails about this overnight and this morning. One thing I know that you don't, if you've only read the corporate media stories, is that for about 30 minutes, students who tried to log in to Canvas were sent to a spoofed log in page that attempted to steal their passwords and other information. Presumably that happened to faculty who tried to log in as well. So that's one motive. The other is evidently that the hackers are trying to hold up the schools and/or the vendor for ransom. This is happening during final exams so it's obviously very disruptive.

 

Before I make my big point, let me explain that Canvas essentially replaces paper as the medium of communication between instructors and students. When I was teaching, I posted my syllabus, copies of my lecture slides, assignments, links to resources, and everything else I wanted to share with students on Canvas. I could message the class if I had anything new to tell them. Students, in turn, submitted their assignments to Canvas and the TAs marked them up and graded them on line. The grades were stored on line as well and the averages calculated automatically. In short, the slaughter of trees that normally accompanied a large lecture class was averted.

 

As far as I know, a few years ago, when I was teaching, the university owned the software and ran it on their own network. The information lived in the basement of a building on campus. But now, like a lot of software, it has migrated to the cloud. The university pays an annual licensing fee and the information lives who only knows where, possibly Albania. If Elon Musk gets his way (he won't), it will end up on the moon. That is why the hackers were able to attack every single user -- thousands of schools -- simultaneously.  And this is a big problem for all of us, because the same kind of attack will happen again. Oh yeah -- no doubt the contract the vendor signs with the schools says that the information will all stay private, but you probably shouldn't believe it. Every student's essays, exams, grades, communication with their instructors, all of that, belongs to a huge for-profit corporation that, if it doesn't misuse the information itself, is vulnerable to hacking as we have seen. 

 

Well, the same goes for your photoshop images, your Microsoft Office work, most of what you do with your computer or your phone. So keep that in mind.

Wednesday Bible Study: Going bananas for Jesus

Acts Two is the basis for Pentecostalism. In case you don't know, that is a Christian religious movement which consists of several different denominations and independent churches, that have in common belief in the inerrancy of the Bible, and direct personal experience of God which is manifested by "speaking in tongues," i.e. shouting gibberish while in a frenzied state. They also believe in faith healing and, of course, expect the apocalypse imminently but they've been disappointed in that respect for a couple of centuries now. Of course, 

 

If you're really interested here's the Wikipedia article. 

 

2 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. ² Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³ They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. ⁴ All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues^[a] as the Spirit enabled them.

⁵ Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. ⁶ When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. ⁷ Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? ⁸ Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? ⁹ Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,^{[b] 10} Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome ¹¹ (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” ¹² Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”

¹³ Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”

Peter Addresses the Crowd

¹⁴ Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. ¹⁵ These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! ¹⁶ No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

¹⁷ “‘In the last days, God says,
    I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
    your young men will see visions,
    your old men will dream dreams.
¹⁸ Even on my servants, both men and women,
    I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
    and they will prophesy.
¹⁹ I will show wonders in the heavens above
    and signs on the earth below,
    blood and fire and billows of smoke.
²⁰ The sun will be turned to darkness
    and the moon to blood
    before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
²¹ And everyone who calls
    on the name of the Lord will be saved.’^[c]

²² “Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. ²³ This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men,^[d] put him to death by nailing him to the cross. ²⁴ But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. ²⁵ David said about him:

“‘I saw the Lord always before me.
    Because he is at my right hand,
    I will not be shaken.
²⁶ Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
    my body also will rest in hope,
²⁷ because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
    you will not let your holy one see decay.
²⁸ You have made known to me the paths of life;
    you will fill me with joy in your presence.’^[e]

²⁹ “Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. ³⁰ But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. ³¹ Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay. ³² God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. ³³ Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. ³⁴ For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said,

“‘The Lord said to my Lord:
    “Sit at my right hand
³⁵ until I make your enemies
    a footstool for your feet.”’^[f]

³⁶ “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”

³⁷ When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

³⁸ Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹ The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

⁴⁰ With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” ⁴¹ Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

The Fellowship of the Believers

⁴² They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. ⁴³ Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. ⁴⁴ All the believers were together and had everything in common. ⁴⁵ They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. ⁴⁶ Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, ⁴⁷ praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Footnotes

1. Acts 2:4 Or languages; also in verse 11
2. Acts 2:9 That is, the Roman province by that name
3. Acts 2:21 Joel 2:28-32
4. Acts 2:23 Or of those not having the law (that is, Gentiles)
5. Acts 2:28 Psalm 16:8-11 (see Septuagint)
6. Acts 2:35 Psalm 110:1

 

 

 

Sunday Sermonette: Bad historian

As I have discussed before, The Acts of the Apostles (usually just called Acts) is the second half of the document that begins with the Gospel of Luke. The early church authorities who canonized the New Testament decided to split it and put John in the middle, who knows why? Acts is usually dated to around 90 to 100 CE, which means, as with the other gospels, the author cannot in fact have been an eyewitness to the events it describes. Which makes sense, since they're impossible. The author is thought to have been an associate of Paul, since he eventually describes some of Paul's early actions, which is just further proof that his depiction of earlier events is fanciful.

 

Anyway, the first chapter contains (again as usual) a glaring contradiction, in this case with the Gospel of Luke. In Luke, Judas hangs himself prior to the crucifixion. Here, he buys a farm with the proceeds of his betrayal, and then, after the crucifixion, he falls down and his entrails fall out. Whatever. Once again, what Judas did in supposedly betraying Jesus was exactly what Jesus wanted and needed him to do. 

 

Note that heaven is purported to be an actual physical location in the sky. Turns out we've been up there, and there ain't no heaven. 

 

1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach ² until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. ³ After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. ⁴ On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. ⁵ For John baptized with^[a] water, but in a few days you will be baptized with^[b] the Holy Spirit.”

⁶ Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

⁷ He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. ⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

⁹ After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

¹⁰ They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. ¹¹ “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

Matthias Chosen to Replace Judas

¹² Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk^[c] from the city. ¹³ When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. ¹⁴ They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

¹⁵ In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty) ¹⁶ and said, “Brothers and sisters,^[d] the Scripture had to be fulfilled in which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through David concerning Judas, who served as guide for those who arrested Jesus. ¹⁷ He was one of our number and shared in our ministry.”

¹⁸ (With the payment he received for his wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out. ¹⁹ Everyone in Jerusalem heard about this, so they called that field in their language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)

²⁰ “For,” said Peter, “it is written in the Book of Psalms:

“‘May his place be deserted;
    let there be no one to dwell in it,’^[e]

and,

“‘May another take his place of leadership.’^[f]

²¹ Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus was living among us, ²² beginning from John’s baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection.”

²³ So they nominated two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias. ²⁴ Then they prayed, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen ²⁵ to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs.” ²⁶ Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles.

Footnotes

1. Acts 1:5 Or in
2. Acts 1:5 Or in
3. Acts 1:12 That is, about 5/8 mile or about 1 kilometer
4. Acts 1:16 The Greek word for brothers and sisters (adelphoi) refers here to believers, both men and women, as part of God’s family; also in 6:3; 11:29; 12:17; 16:40; 18:18, 27; 21:7, 17; 28:14, 15.
5. Acts 1:20 Psalm 69:25
6. Acts 1:20 Psalm 109:8

 

A mystery

Krugthulu (via email, so no link) shares the following chart and commentary:

 

 

 

A normal political party would respond to this problem by trying to solve it. OK, some blame-shifting — attributing rising prices to forces beyond the president’s control or insisting that current problems were caused by the previous administration’s policies — would also be par for the course.

But MAGA is trying to deal with its affordability crisis simply by denying reality. Over the past few days multiple prominent Republicans have gone on TV to insist that gas prices are falling. On Thursday Sen. Tim Scott said that “gas prices continue to come down,” while House Majority Leader Steve Scalise declared that gas is much cheaper than it was “two years ago,” when, he claimed, it was $6 a gallon. The average price then was actually $3.66.

And Pete Hegseth, the Defense secretary, told Congress that gas prices in California were $8 a gallon on the eve of the Iran war; the average was actually $4.64. . . .

So what’s the purpose of these MAGA lies? The answer, of course, is that they’re aimed at an audience of one. Voters know that gas prices are way up and that inflation is elevated, but Donald Trump, swaddled in his Mar-a-Lago bubble, doesn’t. Trump says that we have no inflation. He recently insisted that inflation was 5 percent at the end of Biden’s term and took credit for falling inflation before he took office. So Republicans determined to say whatever he wants to hear — which means everyone still in the party — feel obliged to praise his inflation record, the facts be damned. 

 

Right. In fact, the person occupying the office of President of the United States is a demented lunatic who is living in an alternate reality of delusional grandiosity. This is disconcerting because the situation is completely unpredictable. There's no telling what he'll do next -- maybe he'll suddenly remember about Greenland, who knows? He is surrounded by groveling sycophants and amoral cowards, which includes the entire Republican congressional delegation. 

The question is why? Why are all Republicans "determined to say what he wants to hear"? Is Lindsey Graham afraid that Vladimir Putin will reveal to the world that Graham is gay? Maybe, but that doesn't account for the rest of them. They could have been rid of him in 2020. They can get rid of him now -- all it would take is four Representatives and 18 senators. If they don't want to remove him from office, they can effectively neuter him. Is Putin really blackmailing all of them? I really want to know.